claude-pee

Drop-in wrapper around the claude CLI for scripted interactive sessions

TLDR

Run an interactive session through the wrapper

$ claude-pee

Send a one-shot prompt and print the reply

$ claude-pee -p "[summarize this file]"

Request JSON output for downstream parsing

$ claude-pee -p "[prompt]" --output-format json

Stream incremental JSON events as the model responds

$ claude-pee -p "[prompt]" --output-format stream-json

Forward extra flags verbatim to the underlying claude CLI

$ claude-pee --model [opus] -p "[prompt]"

SYNOPSIS

claude-pee [options] [-p prompt]

claude-pee is a Rust front-end that wraps the official claude command-line tool. It spawns claude inside a pseudo-terminal (PTY), assigns a fresh --session-id (UUIDv4), forwards every other flag unchanged, optionally injects a one-shot prompt with -p, and then tails the matching session transcript JSONL file until the assistant's reply is complete.The wrapper exists so that programmatic scripts and CI pipelines can drive claude without being billed against its programmatic-usage credit pool, while still benefitting from the interactive session semantics. Output is collected and printed to stdout in plain text, JSON, or streaming JSON depending on --output-format.A sentinel file combined with claude's Stop hooks signals when the response has finished so the wrapper can exit cleanly instead of polling indefinitely.

PARAMETERS

-p prompt

Inject a one-shot prompt and exit when the reply is complete. Without -p the wrapper hands the PTY back to the user for an interactive session.

--output-format FORMAT

Select output mode: text (default), json, or stream-json.

--session-id ID

Override the auto-generated UUIDv4 used to correlate the underlying claude transcript.

All other flags are forwarded verbatim to claude, so options like --model, --add-dir, or --allowedTools behave exactly as documented for the real CLI.

CAVEATS

Requires the claude CLI to be installed and on $PATH, plus Rust 1.85+ to build from source via cargo build --release. Because the wrapper depends on claude's transcript JSONL layout and Stop hook behavior, future changes to the official client may break it. This is a community project, not an Anthropic product.

HISTORY

claude-pee was published in 2026 as a community response to the cost difference between interactive and programmatic Claude Code usage, debuting on Hacker News and growing from a single-file Rust prototype into a small drop-in shim.